Hofa Park Honey

08/29/2026

Currently dry at the Shawano Farmers Market and we are all set up.

08/22/2026

Well, some days you win, others you lose.....I had plans to get all the honey pulled this afternoon after the Shawano Farmers Market.....Mother nature decided she had other plans. Down to the last 7 hives to pull honey and treat for mites. Hopefully tomorrow we will get it done.

08/21/2026

Get your honey at Shawano Farmers Market tomorrow, Saturday from 8am until noon!

08/12/2026

Spent the day yesterday pulling honey and ensuring the bees are healthy. Coming to the end of the honey flow and starting winter prep.

08/09/2026

Ok, most of the time, we are upbeat and showing local honey being produced. Almost all of our posts are this way.

Today.... Well today is different. Struggling with being able to wrap my head around this government decision to group natural honey with refined sugar and remove money from honey bee research.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1LGbPxx7R8/

A watch out for my U.S. friends.... our government is making some poor decisions regarding our industry.

FOOD PYRAMID - In the new Dietary Guidelines published by the Department of Health & Human Services under Secretary Kennedy, it has apparently categorized honey the same as sugar claiming it should be reduced or eliminated as an unhealthy "added sugar" ingredient in their "Real Food" program. Classifying honey as an "added sugar" has caused existing programs and research grants related to honey being cut or discontinued. For example, the Utah Dept of Ag and Food - Food Security Grants will no longer support honey related programs due to the new HHS classification of honey as an added sugar.
https://cdn.realfood.gov/DGA.pdf

BEE LAB CLOSING - The USDA has shut down the Beltsville Bee Lab that leads honey bee disease research and provides free disease testing for any US beekeeper.
https://theconversation.com/shutting-down-federal-bee-labs-threatens-bees-beekeepers-and-the-us-food-system-283358

IMPORTED FAKE HONEY - There is a lack of regulations and controls around the import of adulterated or fake honey from global suppliers. There are no consistent sampling & testing requirements to prevent fake syrup-based honey from entering the US... and 83% of all honey sold here is imported. Also, the USDA does not allow any domestic honey to be labeled "organic", but foreign honey that is imported can be called organic. Follow this link to sign a petition around better controlling honey quality & imports. Remember - Buy Local. https://form.jotform.com/262024349403147

08/07/2026

If its bears, pints, quarts or squeeze bottles, we got you covered! Freshly poured honey wl for sale at the Shawano Farmers Market Saturday 8am until noon!

08/03/2026

On today's episode of being a beekeeper, we introduce the honey extractor. This piece of equipment spins the frames in a circle forcing the honey out of the individual cells and into the bottom of the tank. Every jar of honey we produced over the last 6 years have gone thru this one machine.

This time of year, we are spinning honey almost every day to get the honey out of the frames and into the storage containers.

07/30/2026

We get asked "How do you get the bees away from the honey?" 🍯🍯🍯🍯Well, let me tell you! 🌟🌟🌟Long post alert!🌟🌟🌟

When we want to remove the bees from honey supers, we use a device called a bee escape. The escape is the same dimensions as a honeybox, and works with the natural flow of the hive. Bees, bring nectar in at the front door (front entrance) and other bees move it up to the top honey boxes. Over time, they will dehydrate the nectar into honey.🐝🐝🐝🐝

The bee escape allows bees to filter their way down towards the front entrance, but not move back up to the top. As you can see, the little red cones make the bees able to escape from the top when they encounter the fine mesh screen but not move all the way back up leaving the boxes above the escape nearly bee free. After a few days, we removed the boxes that do not have bees in them to extract.

The first picture shows the bee escape on the back of our bee truck, the second picture shows the bee escape on top of the hive and the third picture shows the escape between two honey boxes, the box above will be free of bees in a day or two.

That was our day yesterday. Setting bee escapes below full honey supers in preparation to pull full honey boxes and continue to supply all your honey needs!

We will be at The FRESH Project - Shawano Farmers Market next Saturday, August 8th from 8 am until noon.

Some of you have heard already heard, the Fresh Project lost their ability to update their page. They created a new page called "Shawano Farmers Market" I've linked the page below if you so choose to get updates from the market.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1LJMepCU5c/

07/27/2026

Yesterday's heat and humidity was no joke! We spent a few hours in the bee yards and spun out about 55 pounds of honey. Not too bad for only getting 4 boxes thru the extractor.

07/20/2026

Wishing I was a bit taller to make this next part easier........